Dessert!

Ok, no claim to fame on this one. I found it on the internet but I have to share it with everyone. Its chocolate banana cake and it turned out way too good! I am probably going to have to hide it on myself, or send it to work with the Husband, because there are too many calories sitting on my kitchen counter!

Here it is, I skipped the ganache on top because of lack of ingredients, but it doesn't even need it, its super moist and rich without. I also only added 1 1/2 cups of sugar, cause 2 cups seemed a bit much and I didn't want my kids bouncing off the walls! Enjoy!

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ChocolateBananaCake.html

Empty Fridge = Creative Dinner

Sometimes I stare into my fridge and all that looks back at me is an empty white void. Today was one of those days....
I took out a couple of chicken breasts from the freezer earlier in the day and hoped that sometime throughout the afternoon some wonderful idea would spring into my mind... Well, I was wrong.
Later in the afternoon though my Mom stopped by and as I was staring longingly at my chicken she said, "what about chicken with herbs? and you have that tzatziki there too?"... Thanks Mom!! An idea is born!

Here is what I am calling 'Herb Smashed Chicken'

I went out to the garden and picked some oregano, rosemary, thyme and basil. I chopped them up with some garlic, mixed with olive oil and muddled it all together. I then pounded the chicken breasts flat and rubbed the mixture all over the chicken. I then heated up my pan to about medium heat and slapped them in. They took only about 4 minutes on each side until they were a light golden brown. I served them up with tzatziki sauce for dipping and the girls and I had ourselves some yummy chicken! Although I think Kayleigh maybe ate more sauce than chicken....

Chicken with garden fresh veggies, zucchini sticks (see next) and tzatziki.

  

I also happened to pick a large zucchini from the garden today, and much like my experience with the fridge, found myself staring at it with nothing but blank thoughts coming back. Then I remembered in my empty fridge I actually had a little left over parmesan from another batch of kale salad we had the other night.( http://kristin-amateurmother.blogspot.com/2011/07/all-hail-kale.html scroll to bottom for salad recipe.... mucho yummy!) And my motto of course is 'cheese goes with everything!', so I sliced up the zucchini into wedges, tossed some bread crumbs on top, put a couple small dollops of butter around, then sprinkled the parm on top and baked at convect 375 for about 25 minutes. They kind of turned out like not deep fried zucchini sticks and were so good, I will definitely make those again!!

Zucchini and chicken before cooking





 So my uninspired night turned into a garden inspired dinner. Without my little garden I would have had no herbs, no tomato and no zucchini....  All I would of had is an empty fridge! I love that having fresh veggies teaches me new ideas and in turn our family breaks out from the norm. Another great reason to grow your own veggies I say!

Rosemary, thyme, chives

Also oregano, parsley and sage.

Garden in Bloom!

It has been such a wonderful past couple of weeks. My tomatoes are FINALLY ripening, my squash are growing and my fall veggies I planted from seed are growing at a rapid rate.

Pumpkins

Beefsteaks

I have been doing some reading on a fall garden and am experimenting with growing some seeds that I planted a few weeks ago. I am trying beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, peas and radishes. And so far they seem to be doing well, my only concern is the brussel sprouts as they usually should of been planted a few weeks before I got them in, even for a late crop.
I also popped in some spinach that you 'overwinter', so we will see how that goes!

This trial season for growing my garden has taught me so much. I am looking forward to an even bigger and better garden next season, hopefully with a little more success, especially in the bean department. Beans are one of my favourite things to have from the garden and I only was able to bag one small batch for the freezer. A lack of sun and a bug infestation left them as my worst veggie I think. Unlike my cucumbers, acorn squash, zucchini and pumpkins, they did not fight to make a miraculous comeback!

 

Acorn squash

Cucumber

For now I will bask in the glories of my wonderful garden in bloom and just take it all in. It wont be too long till the frost will come and I will be back to gazing out the window and plotting my next summers gardens.....
But I won't rush it, I have a long list of fall chores to do that include transplanting, planting spring bulbs, planting garlic and getting my Husband to dig up bushes and build more garden boxes, I can't wait!